Roundtable meeting of leaders at Belt and Road international forum

Vladimir Putin attended
the first roundtable meeting of leaders at the Belt and Road international forum, which covered integration issues and the further development of economic partnership.

May 15, 2017

08:00

Beijing

The leaders of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation adopted a joint statement.

* * *

President of Russia
Vladimir Putin: Mr
President Xi Jinping, colleagues,

I listened with great interest to the opening remarks by President Xi
Jinping yesterday. He laid out ambitious goals, which I would describe as very
impressive.

It is obvious that these goals will not be easy to achieve, and that we
will have to cover a long road together to achieve them. However, this
initiative is fully in keeping with current development trends, and is
extremely useful and relevant.

This is why Russia has not just supported the Belt and Road initiative
but will actively contribute to achieving it with our Chinese partners and the other concerned parties.

The creation of an economic development and mutually beneficial trade route
between Asia and Europe is a highly relevant and important initiative. It takes
into account today’s global economic trends, major economic changes and cargo
routes and also reflects the overall demand for coordinating different
integration formats in Eurasia and other parts of the world, as has been expressed.

It is important that all of the existing integration structures in Eurasia and any new initiatives be based on universal and generally recognised foundations.
They must also take into account the specifics of the member states’ national
development models and be developed openly and transparently.

Of course, we have also encountered problems, which are not uncommon to all the global economies. At the same time, the EAEU has helped us seriously
mitigate any negative influence on the member states’ economies and adjust them
to new global realities.

The EAEU is steadily developing external ties. Some 50 countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America have shown interest in cooperating with it.

The Free Trade Agreement between the EAEU and Vietnam came into effect
in October 2016. The EAEU is negotiating a trade and economic cooperation
agreement with China and a free trade agreement with Israel. Agreements have
been reached to launch talks with Egypt, Iran, India, Serbia and Singapore.

In May 2015, we reached an agreement with our Chinese friends to combine
integration within the EAEU and China’s Silk Road Economic Belt project.

Our goal is to create a system of bilateral and multilateral agreements
to facilitate regulation in customs, sanitary and phytosanitary control, industry
cooperation and investment, and in protecting intellectual property rights.

The development of this partnership will certainly take much time and effort. This process involves a careful combination of different depths, speeds
and levels of integration, but we definitely need to do this. In fact, this is
what China and President Xi Jinping have proposed at this forum.

Ultimately, this will enable us to create a common economic space from
the Atlantic to the Pacific.